brennen

From Middle High German brennen, a merger of Old High German brennan (from Proto-West Germanic *brannijan), and Old High German brinnan (from *brinnan).

Cognate with Bavarian brenna, Dutch branden, Swedish brinna, Icelandic brenna, Old English birnan, and therefore English burn.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʁɛnən/

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• Hyphenation: bren‧nen

brennen (irregular weak, third-person singular present brennt, past tense brannte, past participle gebrannt, past subjunctive brennte, auxiliary haben)

1. (intransitive) to burn; to light on fire

   Ich beobachtete, wie das Haus brannte. ― I watched the house burn.

   Es brennt! ― There is a fire!

2. (intransitive) to burn; to be on fire

   Mein Haus brennt! ― My house is on fire!

   Trockenes Holz brennt am besten. ― Dry wood burns best.

3. (intransitive) to have a strong affection for; to be affectionate

   Ich brenne darauf sie zu besuchen! ― I would really like to visit her.

4. (intransitive) to be lit, to be on (of a light or lamp)

   Das Licht in der Küche brannte noch immer. ― The light in the kitchen was still on.

5. (intransitive) to irritate; to induce pain or another painful sensation; to bite; to sting

   Die Zwiebeln brennen in meinen Augen! ― The onions sting in my eyes!

   Dieser Senf brennt wie Teufel auf meiner Zunge! ― This mustard bites my tongue like hell!

6. (intransitive) to smart; to sting (a sore or wound)
7. (transitive) to fire; to bake; to kiln (tiles and pottery)

   Dachziegel werden im Brennofen gebrannt. ― Tiles are baked in a kiln.

   Nach drei Tagen kann die Vase gebrannt werden. ― The vase can be fired after three days.

   Keramikwaren müssen gebrannt werden, bevor sie genutzt werden können. ― Pottery needs to be fired before one can use it.

8. (transitive) to distil (alcoholic beverages such as schnapps)

   Synonym: destillieren

9. (transitive, computing) to burn; to archive data on a storage medium. (such as CDs, DVDs, etc.)

   Kannst du mir 'Das weiße Album' von den Beatles brennen? ― Can you burn 'The White Album' from The Beatles for me?

10. (intransitive, figuratively) to emit heat

    Die Sonne brannte auf sie herab. ― The sun was shining upon them with great heat.

11. to roast
12. to bream (clean a ship etc. by fire and scraping)
13. (Austria, informal) to fork out, to shell out

    Synonyms: bezahlen, blechen, berappen, löhnen, pecken, zahlen

• “brennen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “brennen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “brennen” in Duden online
• “brennen” in OpenThesaurus.de
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “brennen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

From Middle High German brinnen, from Old High German brinnan, from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʀænen/, [ˈbʀænən]
  • Rhymes: -ænən

brennen (third-person singular present brennt, past participle gebrannt, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (transitive) to burn, to set alight
2. (intransitive) to burn, to be on fire
3. (intransitive) to smart, to sting
4. (transitive) to distil (spirits)
5. (transitive) to brand (an animal)
6. (transitive, computing) to burn (a disk)

• abrennen
• ausbrennen
• ubrennen
• verbrennen

• bren, brenne
• brin, brine, brynne (especially Northern)
• berne, bernen, birne, byrne (uncommon or early)
• bearne, beornen (early), bærnen (Laȝamon), bærnenn, brennenn (Ormulum)

Originally three distinct verbs:

• Old English biernan, from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan, from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”).
• Old English bærnan, from Proto-West Germanic *brannijan, from Proto-Germanic *brannijaną (“to cause to burn”).
• Old Norse brenna, brinna, cognate with bærnan; forms derived from this source are usual after early Middle English.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛnən/, (especially Northern) /ˈbrinən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛrnən/, /ˈbɛːrnən/, /ˈbeːrnən/ (less common)

brennen (third-person singular simple present brenneth, present participle brennynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative brente, past participle brent)

1. (intransitive) To burn; to undergo combustion.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

2. (ambitransitive) To burn; to set on fire:
   1. To burn a sacrifice or offering.
   2. To torture or kill with fire.
   3. To raze or destroy by fire.
      • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Manciples Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio xcix, recto, column 2:

        That for the tyraunt is of greater might / By force of meyne, to ſlee downe right / And brenne houſe & home, & make al playn, / Lo therfore is he called a capitayne / And for the outlawe hath but ſmal meyne / And maie not do ſo great an harm, as he / Ne brynge a countrey to ſo great miſchefe / Men callen him an outlawe or a thefe

        That because the tyrant is of greater might / By force of retinue, to slay downright / And burn house and home, and make all level / Lo therefore is he called a captain / And because the outlaw has but a small retinue / And may not do so great a harm as he [the tyrant] / Nor bring a country to so great mischief / Men call him an outlaw or a thief

3. (ambitransitive) To apply fire to:
   1. To injure with fire; to cause a burn.
   2. To toast or roast; to mark with fire in cooking.
   3. To calcine; to heat to refine or dry.
4. (intransitive) To resemble or behave like fire:
   1. To be hot or burning.
   2. To be bright or shiny.
   3. To be emotionally fervent.
5. (transitive) To act like fire; to metaphorically "burn":
   1. To emotionally actuate or impel.
   2. (medicine, pathology) To corrode or inflame.

• English: burn
  • → Middle Scots: burn
    • Scots: burn
• Middle Scots: bryn, byrn
  • Scots: bren, brenn, brend

• “brennen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Proto-West Germanic *brannijan.

brennen

1. to burn

• Middle Dutch: bernen, barnen
  • Dutch: barnen
  • Limburgish: borre
  • ⇒ Middle Dutch: branden (backformation)
    • Dutch: branden
    • Limburgish: branje, brenje

• “brennen”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From Proto-West Germanic *brannijan, from Proto-Germanic *brannijaną. Cognate with Old English bærnan, Old Saxon brinnan, Old Norse brenna.

brennen

1. (transitive) to burn

• Middle High German: brennen
  • Bavarian: brenna
  • German: brennen
  • Luxembourgish: brennen
  • Yiddish: ברענען (brenen)